


Never Let You Go

by cptxrogers



Series: Holiday Exchange Community Gifts [4]
Category: Marvel 616
Genre: Angst, Denial, DreamVision, M/M, Tiberius Stone is a terrible asshole, Tony Angst, Unhealthy Dynamics, Virtual Reality, mental manipulation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-23 20:15:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13197723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cptxrogers/pseuds/cptxrogers
Summary: It's the return of Tiberius Stone and his evil virtual reality technology!Things are just perfect for Tony. He is happy with his Avengers family, his company is doing great, and he and Steve are deeply in love and finally getting to enjoy their life together.So why doesn't it feel right?





	Never Let You Go

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cap Iron Man Community](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Cap+Iron+Man+Community).



> For the (delightfully evil) Cap-Ironman Holiday Exchange Community Gifts prompt:
> 
>  
> 
> _Ty Stone and his evil Virtual Reality technology are back! He traps Tony in a false reality where things are...well, perfect actually. His company is doing great, all his friends have forgiven him, and he and Steve are so achingly in love that Tony almost can't bring himself to try to return to the real world._

“Morning, sleepyhead.”

Tony luxuriates under the covers, a familiar smell of old soap and worn leather spread throughout his sheets and a warm, heavy presence behind him. He rolls over and rubs a hand across his eyes. Steve reaches out a hand to brush a stray hair from his forehead, beaming like it’s the first time they’re waking up together. As Tony blinks into wakefulness, Steve wriggles closer to him.

“Can I bring breakfast for my best fella? Coffee and a croissant?” Steve is wide awake, and he’s clearly been up for several hours. But he stayed in bed anyway. He stayed to be with Tony, even while he was sleeping.

Tony nuzzles into Steve’s neck. “I’d rather have you for breakfast."

A blush spread across Steve’s cheeks like he’s still not used to hearing that. If it were up to Tony, Steve would hear about how desirable he is all day and every day.

“But the Avengers meeting…” Steve protests.

Tony decides to play dirty and sets about distracting him. It doesn’t take long before Steve is writhing and gasping and has abandoned all thoughts of them getting out of bed early for once. Steve is hot and pliant in his arms, so sensitive along the back of his neck and achingly hard beneath him.

“Tony,” Steve makes an effort to protest, but it just comes out as breathy. “We should… oh, Tony… we should…”

Tony grins wickedly. “We should stay right here,” he whispers into Steve’s ear. “And enjoy ourselves.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

They do make it to the Avengers meeting, eventually. They’re only a few minutes late, but as they enter Jan teases them brightly about their late morning, which makes Steve blush even more.

God, Tony thinks, he’s beautiful when he blushes.

Hank tries to call the meeting to order, raising his voice to be heard over the cacophony of a room full of Avengers passing out breakfast foods and bickering over the last blueberry muffin. Carol is threatening to use her powers on Jess if she doesn’t hand over a buttered bagel in the next two minutes. Luke is regaling Thor and Bruce with tales about baby Danielle’s newest preferences for solid foods and Jessica’s attempts to satisfy them. Peter is laughing as MJ wheedles Logan to let her design a new outfit for him, to which he grunts noncommittally.

Steve squeezes Tony’s hand under the breakfast table, and even after all this time Tony’s heart still does a little flip.

This is their family. It’s noisy and chaotic and wild, but he wouldn’t trade it for the world.

 

 

* * *

 

 

There’s the usual Avengers business to attend to: some new villain dressed in a preposterous outfit and calling himself The Leaper who needs to be investigated. The Fantastic Four have been in contact to ask for help with a new communications technology that Reed is working on. Wanda has chosen a children’s charity to be the beneficiary of their next fundraiser.

Hank takes minutes of the meeting and hands out assignments, sending Steve to investigate The Leaper and tasking Tony with helping Reed with his communications project. Tony is about to head down to his workshop to get started when Steve pulls him into the corridor.

“I’ll miss you,” Steve says, lacing their fingers together. Tony means to say that Steve’s only going on recon for a few hours, that he’ll be back soon for their date this evening, that he surely can’t think he’ll miss him in that time… but then Steve is kissing him, and Tony forgets every word that was in his head.

 

 

* * *

 

  

“Morning, sleepyhead.”

It’s warm and snug in bed, with a pleasing scent in the air and a heavy body behind him. Tony rolls over and Steve reaches out to brush the hair from his face.

There’s something nagging at the edge of Tony’s memory, like a word he can’t recall but is right on the tip of his tongue.

“Can I bring breakfast for my best fella?” Steve asks. “Coffee and a croissant?”

Tony is contemplating breakfast when suddenly his eyes slide out of focus and a spike of pain lances through his temples. Blindingly bright light dazzles him, there’s a hideous screeching sound - and then, just as suddenly, it’s gone, and there’s Steve, dozy and soft beside him. Smiling that secret smile that only Tony gets to see.

Tony shakes his head to clear it. He’s tired, that’s all. He decides that he’ll persuade Steve to stay in bed for a little bit longer, even if it means that they’ll be late to start their day.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Breakfast is the usual jovial chaos. He has to slip out when he gets a phone call from Pepper, and for a moment he worries that there’s a crisis at Stark Industries.

But Pepper has just called to confirm he and Steve are still on for dinner with her and Happy tonight. Pep and Rhodey have been doing such a sterling job of running SI and letting him focus on the Avengers that he couldn’t possibly turn her down. And it’ll be good to see her and Happy together outside of work for once - it’s rare for them to have an evening off since they got remarried. Tony confirms and makes a note to remind Steve to get his tux out of storage.

It’s not like the dinner venue is smart enough to actually require formal wear, but if there’s any excuse for him to get Steve into black tie, he’s going to take it.

He’s walking to the lounge to find Steve when the headache from this morning returns with a vengeance. Pains lances across his forehead, bright and sharp, and his eyes flicker and cross. Screeching sound like static on a radio turned up too high rings in his ears and he drops to his knees.

“Tony? Tony!” He can hear Steve’s distressed calls over the screeching in his ears, but he can’t lift his head to see him, can’t open his mouth to respond. The pain builds to a crescendo and white fills his vision.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Morning, sleepyhead.”

Tony rolls over and there's Steve, smiling softly as he wraps both of them in the duvet.

Steve’s soft blonde hair and shining blue eyes sparkle from the white bedsheets -

And then there's a burst of static, and for a moment there is a different face in front of Tony, blonde hair and blue eyes but they're cold and hard and wrong, the jaw is pointed, the smile is cruel. It's not Steve here with him, it's…. Ty?

Tiberius Stone, Tony’s former best friend and now bitter rival, is lying next to him and eyeing him in an assessing manner. Tony’s heart races and he struggles to breathe. Steve isn’t here, he’s gone and now Tony is alone with Ty, something is very wrong….

“Dream on, Tony,” Ty says with a smirk.

Then reality warps with a staticy fuzz and Ty is gone. Tony is back in bed with Steve.

“Coffee and a croissant?” Steve offers, and Tony pushes the thought of Ty from his mind.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Reed Richards sends another message asking Tony to help with the latest iteration of the instant long-distance communications technology he’s developing. Tony is half tempted to tell Reed to shove off, but Sue implores him for his help and bribes him with an invitation for him and Steve to come to the Baxter Building for lunch. She’s making lasagna, Steve’s favorite, and Tony can hardly say no to that.

Reed sends over the specs and Tony gets to work on them. There’s something odd about this communications array. As if it might have another purpose, like it could send something other than messages. That fact seems important somehow.

But then Steve arrives in the workshop with a cup of coffee and a sandwich, and he’s smiling at Tony like he’s the only person in the world. Tony tells him about the project, about Sue and her lasagna, and then Steve is practically begging him to finish up this work for Reed. He makes all sorts of promises of favors to be returned if Tony will only help Reed fix the array.

Tony still thinks the communications array is strange, but he can see how to get it working. He only needs to apply some of what he learned from developing Extremis and the array will send out whatever signals that Reed wants. It won’t take long.

Then he and Steve can go to the Baxter Building to see the Fantastic Four and eat lasagna. Tony can’t imagine a better way to spend a day.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Morning, sleepyhead.”

Tony turns over in bed. His head feels stuffed and woozy. There was something… something important. Something not quite right. Something he had to remember.

“Can I bring breakfast for my best fella?” Steve is smiling at him warmly.

Whatever the thing was, it slips from his mind. The stress and the worry he had felt fade away along with the memory. Steve is here, and everything else can wait.

“Coffee and a croissant?” Steve offers.

God, Tony loves this man. He decides that they ought to stay in bed for a bit longer.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Tony is back in the lab, working on another communications array for Reed. He’s been working for hours without a break and tiredness is beginning to show. He can feel himself getting clumsy, and the pencil he’s twirling drops from his fingers with a clatter.

He bends to pick it up, and sharp pain spikes through his head. The world spins and lurches, and he sits back up -

There’s a rush of sounds and images behind his eyes. _Jan, grown to hundreds of feet tall and screaming in pain as light explodes from her body. Pepper walking out of his office for the final time, her pity overridden by her anger. Wanda sobbing as reality melts around her, Pietro frozen in horror. Bruce crying out in pain. Rhodey, lying cold and lifeless on the ground._

Tony gasps for breath, the horror overwhelming him. But the images kept coming. _Steve, disappointment written across his face as he drags a drunken Tony out of a fire. Steve vaulting a table to land a punch squarely on his jaw. Steve with hatred glowing bright in his eyes as he spits “I remember.” Steve, bleeding to death on the steps of Capitol Hill._

_A monster that wears Steve’s face, mouth turned upwards in something that isn't a smile. Ticking off Tony’s faults like a checklist: control issues, trust issues, paranoid, mania. “Tony, I need you to tell me the truth,” not-Steve orders. “When was your last drink?”_

_Guilt and shame hit him like a train._

It’s too much, too much, he can’t -

The world snaps back into focus. He’s back in his lab, the images are gone. Tony throws down his work and runs upstairs as fast as his feet can carry him, knowing only that he has to find Steve.

He barely gets two words out before Steve wraps him up in a fierce hug, petting his hair soothingly. “It’s okay,” he says kindly. “I’m here, Tony. I love you and I've got you.”

Tony clings tighter to Steve like he's the only solid thing in the world.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Tony tries to sleep.

Every time he turns his head, he has the impression of movement in the periphery of his vision. He has the uncanny sensation of being watched. 

After interminable minutes, the bedroom door swings open. Tony's heart pounds. Ty strolls into the room and looms over Tony's bed, his presence an unbearable weight. 

I must be dreaming, Tony thinks with a hint of desperation. Ty can't be here.

"Aren't you going to welcome me home?" Ty asks smoothly.

Tony turns his head and stares out of the window into the darkness. If he ignores the dream, maybe it will go away.

“Come on, don't be like that. I do want us to be civil. It’s so helpful for me, having you here to perfect my new communications technology."

Tony looks around at that. The communications tech... but that was for Reed...

“You know I could hurt you if I wanted to,” Ty warns.

The threat snaps Tony's attention back to the moment. He won't be cowed by the memory of this man. “You could try,” Tony says, narrowing his eyes. “But the last person who tried to kidnap me ended up in hospital for a month once Steve was done with him.”

Ty smiles a thin, cold smile. “Ahh yes, your dear Steve. He doesn’t scare me as much as you seem to think he should. In fact I’d say he poses absolutely zero threat to me whatsoever.”

“Then you don’t know him at all.”

“Don’t I? I know you, Tony, and I know what you want. I know _who_ you want. I know you’d do anything I ask if I give you the right motivation.”

Ty steps closer, leaning into Tony’s personal space.

“If I'd realized that all I needed to control you was the image of the blonde beefcake, I'd have conjured up a facsimile of that moron years ago.”

A facsimile? No, that's not right, that can't be right, Steve is with him and Steve loves him and they get to be happy together at last. He knows about Steve’s dreams and ambitions, knows how Steve likes his eggs, knows the noises that Steve makes when he’s deep inside him. What they have is real.

“Don’t talk about Steve like that,” Tony snaps. “He’s a better man than you could ever hope to be.”

“Oh, Tony,” Ty sighs. “That thing you love is a phantom. He’s a figment of our shared imagination. Do you even know where the real Steve is? What he’s doing now?”

_A flash of a vision: Steve driving away on his motorbike, shame hanging heavy on him. Tony trying to reach out, to soothe him, to love him, but Steve pushing him away. Steve leaving. Saying there’s something he has to do for himself, something Tony can’t understand… Steve doesn’t need Tony. He needs something else._

Reality bends and Tony reels.

Ty rolls his eyes and disdain drips from his voice. “You’re so desperate for his approval that you’ll fool yourself into thinking this virtual world is real. But lucky for you, I’m generous. You can keep designing new technology for me, and I’ll keep feeding your delusion. That sounds fair, doesn’t it?”

Tony fights off panic. That can't be true. It’s just Ty, trying to get under his skin like he always has. He doesn’t mean it. He’s messing with Tony’s head.

Tony stares down at his fingers, tries to assess whether this world is real or virtual. Can he tell? Does it matter?

“You keep up the good work on those comms systems,” Ty says, and it’s almost gentle. “And you can stay here with Steve.”

That’s all that Tony wants. As long as he’s with Steve, he knows he’ll be okay.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Morning, sleepyhead.”

Steve’s blond hair fluffs out against the pillow, and Tony absently thinks that he’ll need to get it cut soon. He runs a hand through the floppy locks falling into Steve’s deep blue eyes and smiles. There’s surely no better way to wake up in all the world.

“Can I bring breakfast for my best fella?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Tony rolls his shoulders which are aching from being hunched over a workbench for hours. He should rest, but there's so much work to do.

He feels firm fingers placed on his shoulders, and then strong hands begin to knead the muscles at the back of his neck.

"Better?" Steve asks warmly.

"Mmm," Tony sighs, leaning back and letting Steve massage along his shoulders.

The familiar smell of Steve's old fashioned soap washes over him and he feels himself relax.

"Come to bed?" Steve says.

"Give me a few minutes to finish up this relay for the communication array. I promised Reed I'd do it tonight."

Steve puffs out a sound of fond amusement. "You're a good man, Tony. You always work so hard."

Tony hums but secretly glows at the praise.

Steve presses a quick kiss to Tony's cheek and gets up to leave. "Finish up soon," he says as he walks out.

As the door swings shut behind him, the edges of the world fuzz and split around Tony.

Oh no, not again, please not again, he thinks, but it's too late.

Tony is shunted into another dream. Or is it a memory?

_Cold ground beneath him. Heavy weight pushing down on him. Blood running down his face, pooling against his torso under the armor. Searing pain as he tries to breathe through his broken nose._

_And leaning over him, Steve, his face distorted with fury. Hate radiating off him. Steve bringing his shield up over his head, Tony knowing that in a second he will bring the shield smashing down into Tony's chest._

_Tony welcomes it. He can't fight Steve any more. He would rather die that live through any more of this._

_"Finish it," he wheezes, and his voice sounds pathetic and broken even to his own ears._

_Hatred blazes in Steve's eyes. Of course it was always going to end like this, Tony thinks. Steve will destroy him, because he is irrevocably flawed and Steve hates him for it._

The vision tears with a hideous ripping sound and Tony is back in his workshop. His heart pounds and his breathing is erratic, adrenaline uselessly pumping through his body. The dreams are beginning to feel more real than his waking life. It was always nothing more than a fantasy that Steve could love him.

Tears roll down his cheeks. He will beg if that’s what it takes. “Make it stop. Please, Ty, I can’t live like this. Make it stop.”

The air of the workshop warps and Ty appears, perched atop one of the benches and looking down his nose at Tony.

“Such desperation,” he says with disgust.

Tony sniffles and pulls himself together. He steadies his voice. “You can’t keep me here against my will. If you try, I won’t do any more work designing technology for you. I’d rather obliterate myself than help you any more.”

Ty lets out a short bark of a laugh. “Didn't you learn anything from the last time we played this game?” he sneers. “This reality is created by your mind. You’re the one in control here. If you want out, all you have to do is leave.”

With a sickening lurch of his stomach, Tony realizes that this is true. On some level, he’s known it for a while. This virtual world is his creation and Ty is only here to take advantage of that. If Tony wants to, he can destroy it all, send Ty packing, and be free.

He hesitates.

He should… he knows… He will have to destroy this reality or it will consume him.

But he’s not ready to leave quite yet.

He closes his eyes.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Morning, sleepyhead.”

Sunlight streams into the bedroom, haloing Steve’s hair around his face. There’s a faint flush spreading across his cheeks and his eyes sparkle with adoration.

There was something that Tony was supposed to do. Pinpricks of light dance at the edge of his vision, trying to draw his attention. _There was something not right about this…_

Steve cups his face in his hand and brushes his goatee with a thumb. “I love you, Tony Stark,” he says, breath tickling across Tony’s face.

_There was something…_

Steve kisses along his jaw and down his neck, and his lips are soft and warm where they brush against Tony’s skin.

“Love you too, Steve,” Tony breathes.

There was something, but it wasn’t important.

They can stay here, together, in bed. For just a little while longer.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> *pets Tony gently* Sorry for all the heartache, sweetheart. Love you really.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Open Your Eyes (The Believe It Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13788246) by [laireshi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/laireshi/pseuds/laireshi)




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